SENATORS DODD AND KERRY PUSH PRESIDENT ASAD TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DAMASCUS 005447

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA/ELA
NSC FOR MARCHESE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/20/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER SY
SUBJECT: SENATORS DODD AND KERRY PUSH PRESIDENT ASAD TO
CHANGE DIRECTION

Classified By: CDA William Roebuck for reasons 1.4 b/d


1. (C) Summary. Senators Kerry and Dodd had a wide-ranging
conversation with President Asad that focused on Iraq,
Lebanon, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The Senators
cautioned Asad that his relations with America would not
improve without his regime changing its destabilizing
policies in the region. They warned him not to assume that
because the Democrats won control of Congress and the
Baker-Hamilton report advised re-engaging Syria, his
isolation would end without positive unilateral action on his
part. Asad expressed a desire to help bring stability to
Iraq, his willingness to push Hamas to compromise to stop
escalating violence in Gaza and the West Bank, and his
support for the Arab League initiative to resolve the crisis
in Lebanon. The Senators emphasized that Asad's ability to
influence the very negative international perception of his
regime would rest on how events on the ground played out over
the next weeks, especially in Lebanon. End summary.


2. (C) On December 20, Senator Christopher Dodd and Senator
John Kerry, along with their respective staffs, met for
nearly two and a half hours with President Bashar Asad and
his Foreign Minister Walid Mu'allim The two sides discussed
Iraq, the Palestinian ) Israeli conflict, Lebanon, Syria's
alliance with Iran, intelligence cooperation, rising
extremism in Syria, embassy security, and possibilities for
improving bilateral relations. Asad appeared relaxed, open,
and willing to discuss any topic raised. The Senators
offered Asad an opportunity to articulate what he was willing
to do to change the current course of events. Both
emphasized to Asad that his willingness to engage America and
end his country's international isolation would be measured
by events on the ground and not by public or private
statements. Senator Kerry cautioned Asad not to be fooled by
any temporary feelings of self-confidence his regime may be
enjoying because of recent events in the region, as the
current course his regime is on holds very negative future
consequences for Syria.

Iraq
--------------

3. (C) Asad opined that Iraq was currently heading towards a
&full blown8 civil war with very troubling implications for
Syria. He commented that the SARG, therefore, has four
priorities for Iraq: establishing stability; supporting a
national dialogue that includes the Sunnis; border security;
and being part of the political process. Asad stressed that
the biggest obstacle to progress on any of the above is the
continued exclusion of the Sunnis from the political process.
Asad offered that Syria could play a critical role in
bringing key disaffected elements (the Baathists, Sunni
Islamists, and some Shia, including Moqtada Al-Sadr) to the
table if the USG would allow it. In the meantime, Syria
would continue to work unilaterally on its four priorities in
Iraq irrespective of USG action because it was in its
national interest to do so, according to Asad.


4. (C) Senator Kerry told Asad that strong, constructive
unilateral action on Iraq could go a long way in improving
international perceptions of Syrian misbehavior. Senator
Dodd encouraged Asad to respond officially, (the MFA to
Embassy Damascus),on ways it could implement the
Syria-specific recommendations in the Baker Hamilton report.
Asad asked Dodd to pass him the recommendations through FM
Mu'allim, but complained that up to now, the USG had given
him no credit for actions already taken, including
strengthening control of Syria's border with Iraq, arresting
1600 jihadists heading to Iraq, and strengthening immigration
procedures at Damascus airport to exclude Arab males, 18 to
30 years of age who had no compelling reason to visit. Asad
commented that Nigel Sheinwald, foreign policy advisor to PM
Tony Blair, asked him to support the political process in
Iraq and secure his border - both of which Syria is now
doing, according to Asad. Asad commented that Iraq was the
best opportunity -- at least initially -- for bilateral
cooperation and asked that the USG take his positive response
to Sheinwald's requests as proof of his desire to help.

Iran
--------------

5. (C) Both Senators expressed deep concern over Iran's
destabilizing role in Iraq and the region. Asad commented

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that he had no specific information about Iran's involvement
in Iraq but opined that Ahmadinejad's rhetoric is misleading.
Asad opined that Iran had as big an interest in stability in
Iraq as Syria and could be enticed to play a positive role if
engaged correctly. Asad admitted that his country's
relationship with Iran was a cause of concern for other Arab
leaders but he attributed that to their misunderstanding of
the nature of the relationship. He commented that during his
visit to the UAE on December 17 he was able to allay most of
concerns UAE leaders had and he planned to do the same with
others. Asad commented that in any case, Syria's relations
with Iran are valued and enduring, as Iran was one of the
only countries to stand by the SARG when Syria's
international isolation was the deepest. Asad commented that
even if Syria were to abandon the relationship, however, it
would have no effect on Iran's regional policies or its
pursuit of its nuclear program.

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
--------------

6. (C) Asad asserted that Syria, likewise, had an enduring
relationship with Hamas that would not end as long as Hamas
continued to represent the majority of Palestinians. In
spite of that, the SARG was pushing Khalid Misha,al and
other Hamas leaders to make concessions to form a unity
government and to not allow the current crisis to escalate
any further, according to Asad. Asad said that he also
remains in close coordination with the Qataris in their
efforts to positively resolve the Hamas-Fatah conflict. Both
Senators pressed Asad to make a positive public gesture
towards Israel, like helping to return the four captured
Israeli soldiers. (Note. Senator Dodd brought up an
additional specific case of an Israeli soldier that
disappeared on the Golan in 1997. End note.) Asad said that
his recent public statements about peace should be taken as
such a gesture and that it would be difficult for him to do
more without some similar gesture from Israel, especially
given internal opposition to rapprochement with Israel and
his own concerns about the possibility of being perceived as
weak by the Arab street.

Lebanon
--------------

7. (C) Both Senators laid heavy emphasis on the necessity
for the Asad regime to stop destabilizing Lebanon and
allowing the Hariri tribunal to be established. Both
affirmed that US support for the Siniora government is
extremely strong in America and transcends party politics.
Asad affirmed that he supports implementation of UNSCR 1701,
was not opposed to the Hariri investigation. However, with
regard to the Lebanon Tribunal, the SARG objected to the way
it was established and to the timing of certain decisions
that led to its formation. Asad said that he was willing to
be &pragmatic8 towards the Siniora government, even though
SARG relations with PM Siniora himself were poor. Asad
commented, however, that the current political confrontation
was being driven by Hizballah and Michel Aoun, and not the
SARG. Based on his deliberations with Hizballah leader,
Hasan Nasrallah, Asad doubted Hizballah would easily settle
for less than &one-third plus one.8 Asad added, however,
that he fully supports the Arab League initiative to resolve
the crisis as his own priority is that a compromise be found.
He said he looked forward to Arab League SYG Amr Moussa's
expected December 21 visit to Damascus. Asad commented that
greater instability in Lebanon had troubling implications for
Syria's own security. Senator Dodd ended the conversation by
reaffirming the necessity of Asad's words being translated
into events on the ground. Senator Kerry commented that the
next weeks were critically important if Asad were to have any
hope of changing outside perceptions of the negative role his
regime was playing in Lebanon.

Security Cooperation
--------------

8. (C) Asad commented that extremism was on the rise in
Syria citing as examples the killing of an Al-Qaida leader on
the border with Lebanon three weeks ago, the 12 September
attack on the US embassy in Damascus, and the June attack on
the Damascus TV and Radio building. Nonetheless, Asad
asserted he was only interested in restarting intelligence
cooperation under two conditions: that a third party is
involved and that it follow &political8 re-engagement.
Asad attributed the failure of previous collaboration to

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ambiguous and vaguely defined USG requests which Syria felt
it was fulfilling but US officials publicly criticized the
SARG for not doing enough. Therefore, Syria wanted to
involve a third party in any future collaboration to help
resolve discrepancies between what is requested by the U.S.
and what is undertaken and implemented by Syria. Asad
commented that the GOS had arranged for such a collaboration
to occur in Spain last month, but the USG canceled the
meeting. The same had occurred in France the previous year,
according to Asad.


9. (C) Senator Dodd pushed Asad to respond positively to any
Embassy Damascus, requests for security improvements, in
light of the September 12 attack on the Embassy.


10. (U) Senator Dodd and Senator Kerry cleared this cable.
ROEBUCK